Sadly the result didn't go our way but like coach Michael Maguire I too am extremely proud of the lad's effort in that game. They gave their all and it too St George-Illawarra's great credit that what Wigan produced wasn't enough to win.

I'm sure I'm not the only Wigan fan left thinking of what might have been. The absences of Jeff Lima (to suspension) and Stuart Fielden (who failed a fitness test earlier in the day) left a huge hole in our front row but boy didn't Andy Coley, Paul Prescott and Lee Mossop play out of their skins. Coley in particular was immense I thought.

Losing Martin Gleeson in the 38th minute (after he had passed a fitness test earlier in the day) was another key blow. That reduced our interchange options and together with the absences of Lima and Fielden I think it just left us without enough punch off the subs bench in the final quarter of the game. It was also an pretty young and inexperienced bench. I mean neither Lee Mossop or Chris Tuson played in last year's Grand Final. I'm pretty convinced that if just one of Lima and Fielden had been on the park we would have found a try in the last 20 minutes but we never will know will we.

You can't fault anyone for effort in the Wigan side though. The only real finger point for me was our right side defence but Brett Morris is a quality player and he makes those kind of efforts week in, week out in the NRL.

Wigan got off to a perfect start with a try after just 72 seconds. St George received the kick off but a big hit from George Carmont on Beau Scott forced an immediate knock on to give Wigan possession twenty metres out. On the last, Paul Deacon put the bomb up towards the left and Carmont out leaped the tiny Jamie Soward to score the try. Deacon then converted to make it 6-0.

On the next set Wigan had the Dragon's on the rack again with Nathan Fien penalised by referee Thierry Alibert for a high shot on Coley. Now it's easy in hindsight but at the time I thought we should have kicked for touch and gone for the try. Us Wigan fan's have plenty to be happy about since Michael Maguire became our coach but one thing we've never done since he came here is find a killer touch in big games. We saw it time and time again at DW Stadium last year (Saints, Warrington, Huddersfield, Leeds in the play offs). We get off to great starts in all those games but not putting enough points on the board early came back to haunt us. I think taking the penalty goal let St George off the hook. Still I'd take an 8-0 lead inside four minutes in any game.

Wigan had another chance to turn the screw a couple of minutes later when Jason Nightingale knocked on in mid field but he won possession back by forcing a knock on in the tackle from Carmont.

The Dragons had starved themselves of possession in the opening 8 minutes but a soft knock on from Gleeson, twenty metres from our line, gave them their first attack and they punished. A wild offload by Darius Boyd fell kindly for Matt Cooper and he sent Morris over in the left corner. Jamie Soward couldn't convert, leaving the score 8-4 to Wigan after ten minutes.

The contest began to settle down and get bogged down in midfield but a penalty, conceded for not standing square, gave the Dragons a second opportunity to score and again they took it. Cooper scored it from close range with Sam Tomkins and Thomas Leuluai unable to stop him. Soward converted to give St George an 10-8 lead after 16 minutes.

Notice the tactics from the Dragons, two penalties kicked for touch and bang, bang two tries on the board. Wigan got a chance to do that in the 21st minute after Beau Scott was penalised for lying on, but rather than go for a try they went for goal again.

Has it turned out Deacon missed the penalty but we ended up with a try anyway. From a 20 metre drop out Wigan went left. Harrison Hansen threw a poor pass to ground but Carmont scooped it up and raced 60 metres to finish a brilliant try under the posts. Not bad for a 32 year old. He has been outstanding yet again so far this year. Questionable that Hansen's pass was forward but I'm not so sure looking at the replay's that it was. Anyway Deacon had an easy conversion to make it 14-10 to Wigan after 22 minutes.

That was a rare clean break in this game. In fact I can hardly remember their being any but for that one. It was all defence with the opportunities to score coming from errors or penalties. Sadly Wigan shot themselves in the foot again. Hansen was penalised for a ball strip and the Dragons again attacked left. Darius Boyd and Ben Hornby combined to send Morris over for his second try. He showed great upper body strength to barrel over the top of both Sam Tomkins and Thomas Leuluai. Soward couldn't convert so that meant the scores were level at 14-14.

With time ticking towards half time Wigan began to suffer with injuries. Gleeson came off in the 38th minute with his hamstring trouble proving to be a gamble that didn't pay off. Joel Tomkins switched to centre to replace him. Sean O'Loughlin also came off in the 32nd Minute. I assume he was injured because he never usually get's interchanged but he did return later.

Despite those forced interchanges Wigan finished the first half strongly. An attack on the 36th minute saw Wigan right on the Dragon's line but Deacon wasted the last tackle option with a woefully off target kick into touch. Then with a minute to go, Mark Gasnier knocked on in his own half and with 15 seconds remaining Sam Tomkins coolly slotted over a drop goal. It's amazing that Wigan didn't kick a one pointer at all last season, that was our first one since Sam dropped on at Castleford in August 2009.

It had been a breathtaking first half of non stop action with Wigan holding the narrow 15-14 lead. Apart from Carmont's second try, all the scores in the match had come from errors. In the second half both sides tightened up the mistakes and with defences well on top, the first try was going to be crucial.

Unfortunately for us it was the Dragon's who claimed it. The try actually game from a mistake again but it would be harsh to criticise Darrell Goulding for knocking on trying to take an intercept. Lucky for St George that he did knock on because had he gathered he might have been racing the full length for a try. They got a scrum ten metres out and soon after Cameron King scored from close range. Again, good upper body strength to beat Lee Mossop and Paul Prescott. Soward converted to make it 20-15 to them.

24 minutes remained but with clean breaks being at a bigger premium than the current petrol prices it was proving tough to get near to scoring, never mind actually getting over. On 65 minutes we did get right on the goal line and tried attacking left, then right but St George survived. Good last tackle option from Sam Tomkins but his dink into the in goal just went dead before O'Loughlin could pounce.

Opportunities for St George were limited in that time as well but they did manage to get a clean break down the left. Joel Tomkins was caught out in defence and Matt Cooper went through the gap, he found Morris on the outside but Joel did well to recover ground and just about tap his ankles. Damage had been done though, Soward converted the territory into a drop goal, which made it 21-15.

Ten minutes remained and the drop goal didn't really take the pressure off the Dragons. It was still a one try lead and Wigan never gave up the chase. An error in the in goal from Nightingale on 74 minutes forced a drop out, but Deacon couldn't take in an inside pass from Hansen.

Then in the 77th minute came our final attack. Sam Tomkins put in a neat kick forward towards the try line but was taken out by Darius Boyd. Was too far out for penalty try to be considered but the resulting penalty gave us a perfect opportunity to score. Coley went oh so close and he would have deserved a try for his efforts. The Dragons were desperately hanging on, literally. I think Matt Cooper should have been sin binned for lying all over Coley. Referee Alibert, who overall had a good game I felt, gave us a second penalty and although O'Loughlin went close, a dreadful pass from Amos Roberts straight into touch ended the contest. The Dragon's saw out the final two minutes and claim their first ever World Club Challenge.

For me I wasn't gutted that we lost. We gave our all and lost to a team that was just a bit more clinical. Like I said I think with a bit more experience on our bench we'd have at least forced extra time I reckon but like I said, we will never know.

A cracking night followed up town. Plenty of pissed fans from both clubs in the old Walkabout down King Street. I do recall I was dancing on a table in there but the night descended into a late night blur of how the hell did I get home. Oh and I've no idea why I gave my last year's home shirt to one of the Dragons fans for nothing in return but I hope he like's the souvenir. I'm nice like that. Not sure why he would want a shirt smelling of beer, sweat and cheap supermarket deodorant to try and disguise it all but their you are. I didn't even claim a pint for it, which is not like me at all.

Overall us Wigan fan's should be pleased that we had a night like that again. The stadium was pretty much full with an awesome atmosphere. It'll be a bit of a comedown to play Salford away on Friday Night at The Willows won't it!

Reaction to the Action

Michael Maguire:"I am extremely proud of my players, I thought they worked extremely hard right to the death. It was unfortunate the scoreboard didn't end up our way. Full credit to St George, that is the reason why they are the team they are in the NRL. They are a quality team and they take their opportunities when they get them. We had a few opportunities but probably didn't execute the fine detail and get across the line. It is always going to be a tough encounter against any NRL team but, from our point of view, I thought my players stood up. That shows that the two competitions are very close at the top end. There were plenty of times in the game when we could have produced an opportunity to score or could have built more pressure. Those are the sort of things St George have been known for for a long time so we will take a lot from that game. It is great to see Wigan back in this arena. There is a lot of history there and hopefully we will get the chance again."

St George-Illawarra Assistant Coach Steve Price:"I thoroughly enjoyed it and am very grateful for the opportunity (the absent Wayne Bennett) gave me. I have aspirations down the track but am enjoying the experience of working with the best coach in the world. We're very pleased with our defence. Wigan are a very well-coached side and threw a lot at us, so it was very pleasing. We'll enjoy the next couple of days and then get back to Sydney and get ready for round one (of the NRL Season)."

Team Sheets

-

Wigan

Position

St George-I'warra

-

1

Sam Tomkins

Full Back

Darius Boyd

1

2

Darrell Goulding

Winger

Brett Morris

2

3

Martin Gleeson

Centre

Mark Gasnier

3

4

George Carmont

Centre

Matt Cooper

4

19

Amos Roberts

Winger

Jason Nightingale

5

6

Paul Deacon

Stand Off

Jamie Soward

6

7

Thomas Leuluai

Scrum Half

Ben Hornby

7

14

Paul Prescott

Prop

Dan Hunt

8

9

Mike McIlorum

Hooker

Nathan Fien

9

10

Andy Coley

Prop

Michael Weyman

10

16

Ryan Hoffman

2nd Row

Beau Scott

11

11

Harrison Hansen

2nd Row

Ben Creagh

12

13

Sean O'Loughlin

L.Forward

Matt Prior

13

-

12

Joel Tomkins

Substitute

Michael Greenfield

14

21

Lee Mossop

Substitute

Trent Merrin

15

22

Liam Farrell

Substitute

Jon Green

16

23

Chris Tuson

Substitute

Cameron King

19

-

Michael Maguire

Coach

Wayne Bennett

-

Score Sheet

Wigan Warriors 15

---

St George-Illawarra 21

Tries (2):George Carmont 2

---

Tries (4):Brett Morris 2Matt CooperCameron King

Goals:Paul Deacon 3/4

---

Goals:Jamie Soward 2/4

Drop Goals:Sam Tomkins 1

---

Goals:Jamie Soward 1

Scoring and Incident Pattern

01mins:12

Wigan 04

St George-I 00

Try: George Carmont

-

Wigan 06

St George-I 00

Conversion: Paul Deacon (1/1)

03mins:29

Wigan 08

St George-I 00

Penalty Goal: Paul Deacon (2/2)

09mins:14

Wigan 08

St George-I 04

Try: Brett Morris

-

Wigan 08

St George-I 04

J.Soward Missed Conversion (0/1)

16mins:19

Wigan 08

St George-I 08

Try: Matt Cooper

-

Wigan 08

St George-I 10

Conversion: Jamie Soward (1/2)

21mins:57

Wigan 08

St George-I 10

P.Deacon Missed Penalty Goal (2/3)

22mins:41

Wigan 12

St George-I 10

Try: George Carmont (2)

-

Wigan 14

St George-I 10

Conversion: Paul Deacon (3/4)

28mins:43

Wigan 14

St George-I 14

Try: Brett Morris (2)

-

Wigan 14

St George-I 14

J.Soward Missed Conversion (1/3)

39mins:46

Wigan 15

St George-I 14

Drop Goal: Sam Tomkins

Half Time

Wigan Warriors 15 St George-Illawarra Dragons 14

54mins:53

Wigan 15

St George-I 18

Try: Cameron King

-

Wigan 15

St George-I 20

Conversion: Jamie Soward (2/4)

69mins:27

Wigan 15

St George-I 21

Drop Goal: Jamie Soward

Full Time

Wigan Warriors 15 St George-Illawarra Dragons 21

Video Highlights

Note

Wigan played in a special one off black kit with three gold stars that marked our three previous World Club Challenge victories.

Top 5 Wigan Players as voted on our Message Board

Man of the Match: George Carmont2nd:Andy Coley3rd:Mike McIlorum4th:Sean O'Loughlin5th:Lee Mossop

Copyright - Cherryandwhite.co.uk 2002-2014
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that news stories are correct, we cannot be held responsible for errors. Some articles and pictures on this website have been recovered from various sources for archive purposes. If any material on this website is subject to copyright or incorrect in any way please contact us
webmaster@cherryandwhite.co.uk
so we can remove it or negotiate copyright permission.RLFANS.COM, the owners of this website, the RLSA (Rugby League Supporters Association) or the 100% League Network are not responsible for the content of its sub-sites, please email the author of this sub-site if you feel you find an article offensive or of a choice nature that you disagree with.